Tradespeople shortage slows Coober Pedy flood clean-up

A Coober Pedy resident says people have taken precautions against another large rainfall, such as that which flooded the town in April.

The top level of Terry Brennan-Kuss's kangaroo orphanage and gallery avoided serious damage but the underground rooms are still under about a metre of mud.

He says it is likely to take another couple of months to fix because of a shortage of tradespeople.

In the meantime, Mr Brennan-Kuss says he has done what he can to prevent further damage.

"We've sort of made provisions now, done some drainage and stuff to make it better next time but whether that will happen in my lifetime, who knows?" he said.

"So we're mainly concentrating on preparation work for if it happens again and I guess nobody knows when that could be, may never happen again for another 25 years."

Mr Brennan-Kuss says the few tradespeople in the region are already in high demand, without the extra work of disaster repairs.

"So there's been a bit of a demand for people to do jobs ... so there's only so many people around and because of where we are, economically to get people up from Adelaide is a bit cost-prohibitive if you like," he said.

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